


I Guess We Fell

by Ian_the_Existential_Crisis



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Concussions, Eventual Relationships, Hurt/Comfort, Injured Mirage, Injury, One-Sided Attraction, Other, Self-Worth Issues, Slow Build, Slow Burn, im bad at tagging, other stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:54:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24419995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ian_the_Existential_Crisis/pseuds/Ian_the_Existential_Crisis
Summary: Elliott may not wasn't to ask for help or even remotely think about the fact he has an injury he may or may not be hiding from Ajay, but there are always eyes that follow him. What they hold, Elliott isn't really sure since they are always shielded from his gaze behind their mask.
Relationships: Bloodhound/Mirage | Elliott Witt, Eventual Bloodhound/Mirage | Elliott Witt
Comments: 11
Kudos: 63





	1. Falling From the Sky

**Author's Note:**

> I split this into two parts. Part two will have more fluff and romance I guess. 
> 
> Go ahead and leave a comment if you want part 2.

The ringing in his ears felt, strangely, comforting. The weight of the wingman in his hands felt right, adjusting to the sharp recoil as he fired. It was hard to say, but this arena was home to Elliott. 

He didn't have a special connection with it like Natalie did. She was perhaps one of the smartest people he knew, thankfully this time she was on his team. No, he didn't invent the ring like she did, he didn't work for the people who made the games possible, he was just a player. Someone there for money, just like so many others. 

He had joked around with the young woman that interviewed him upon arrival, telling her it was to get beautiful women. He had even thrown her a wink, really trying to sell the act. And it worked. Maybe a little too well. Nobody really took good ol' Mirage seriously. Which honestly for the best. 

He wasn't here to make friends. Of course it couldn't be helped if someone got close and forced their way in. He would be a friend if that's what the people he lived with needed, but he was there to win. 

Renee, well her name was Wraith in the ring, had managed to get close. She just wanted a friend who didn't ask too many questions. And Elliott could do that. Sometimes they just sat in silence next to each other while watching one of the many movies from Octane's collection. Other times they would talk about anything and everything. Renee had a lot of memory issues, almost like amnesia. And Elliott was more than happy to tell her about his loving mother, who had her own share of memory issues. 

There was a point in time when he wondered if there could be something more to the two of them, but that quickly got shot down when he saw Renee's face as Anita Williams passed by. Her eyes would light up and the smallest blush would grace her cheeks. It was cute how she looked away, almost as if she were ashamed to admit she felt anything at all for the other woman.

To fall for someone you have to repeatedly kill for money. It must have been tough for her.

It also made being in a team with Bangalore extremely hard for Elliott. He could see from his spot in the roof how Anita looked down at Natalie with love. How she watched over the tiny blonde as the youngest of them rooted through the deathbox for supplies. He saw the way her hand rested on Wattson's head, telling her how well she did. Elliott wanted to scream at her. Tell her to open her eyes. Wattson wouldn't return her feelings. Wraith would. Wraith would leave him in a heartbeat just to be near Anita, and yet the soldier wanted nothing to do with her. 

Maybe if he hadn't been paying attention to them, if he didn't know how much Renee loved Anita, then he would have noticed the sniper in the distance. But he was too occupied with the thought of spilling his best friend's secret because he wanted to protect her. To let her have the love he never deserved. 

His head cracked on the side of the house as he went down. Must have been a Kraber to hurt him that much. The ladies on his team jumped up, trying to get to him. But his eyes closed and he knew he lost this one.

  * •●



He woke up a few hours later with Ajay looking over him. Ah, the infirmary of course. How many times had he woken up here? It wasn't often that legends were actually hurt and needed the medbay, they usually were okay just going to the respawn chamber. But he knew from the way the lights assaulted him as he opened his eyes that he must have hit his head pretty good. 

"Ya awake? Had me worried." Ajay looked down at him with warm brown eyes. Her lilith fingers danced across his wrist, checking his pulse. "Had Bloodhound worried too."

"Oh?"

"Not many times they are sniping and see someone hit the ground that hard. Think they wanted to apologize to ya."

Of course it was Bloodhound that struck him down. The hunter was famous for their amazing sniper shots. One of the promotions the games had was a shoot of everyone with their favored gun. Elliott had naturally taken the wingman. He loved the wingman. And all the makeup artists, who had to argue with Bloodhound about their mask -which was not coming off damn it- pointed the hunter to the Kraber. They admitted that they would have rather had their promotional picture with the charge rifle, but so many fans detested it, and they were very good with the Kraber. 

"Had to talk them into leavin to eat dinner. They wanted to stay until you woke up."

"I didn't know they cared so much." He gave a fake, huge grin. 

"Everyone cares." Ajay said with a bit of snark. Her eyes rolled, like she was annoyed with having to say it. Maybe for her it was obvious that everyone cared. She was kind and sweet after all. But for him, well if he were to fall off the drop ship right now nobody would even notice, would they?

"Did I miss dinner?" He tried to change the subject. He wasn't very smooth about it, like he usually was, but he was going to blame the head injury for that. 

"Renee made ya a plate." Ajay hummed, looking away from him, her eyes reading over the chart she carefully cradled in her arms. 

Elliott eyed her, waiting for her to say anything to him. Being in the medbay was draining. He hated the smell, he hated the brightness, though they used the same lights as everywhere else. He just hated it.

"Am I good to go doc?" He finally asked after what seemed like forever of silence. It wasn't that he didn't like Ajay Che, but she was a clever one. And the clever ones scared him. It was like she could see right through him. Through all of the lies and bluffs, but she never said a word.

"Feelin' any pain?"

"No." He lied. Of course his head still hurt, and his side of that matter. He must have landed funky to make his whole left side hurt so badly. But the absolute last thing he wanted was to get stuck in the infirmary with Ajay, forcing her to do extra work, all night long. 

She looked at him with that look again. The one that said she saw right through him. But if she knew the truth, she certainly didn't call him out on it. "If ya are feelin' any pain, try taking some pain killers later. And grab me if ya need me. Octavio and I are havin' a movie night I don't mind missin' too much."

He wanted to roll his eyes. Like he could believe that. He knew the two of them were childhood friends. Being here was a catch up for them. There was no way she would be okay with sitting there all night with an older man she barely knew because he had a small headache. It was fine.

"I'll be alright." He said flamboyantly with a wink."I'll hit up the kitchen before I head to bed."

Her eyes darted up from the clipboard for a moment to look him over. He could tell she knew he was lying, but had no proof. A frown settled itself, marking her normally happy face. But she dropped the subject with a sigh. "Ya know where ta find me if ya need anything."

"Yeah, yeah." He said playfully. 

Elliott was glad that she hadn't been looking at him when he hopped off the very uncomfortable bed. He thought, just maybe, jumping down might have been a mistake. His world started to tilt and he brought his hand down hard against the bed, stopping himself from crashing down. The room spun, but he had to keep going, to make himself okay.

He would be fine.

  * •●



The thing about being okay was sometimes you had to lie to yourself about it, make yourself believe you were okay. And when the lie crumbled you would have to realize you were wrong. Elliott was at the point of denial. It had been almost three days and his headache hadn't faded. If anything it had gotten worse. 

But he didn't really have the time to worry about it. The next set of games was scheduled and he had to be his usual chipper self in less than an hour. He just wasn't sure how to pull it off though. His stomach wanted to rebel and his head kept spinning if he stood for too long. 

This is just great. 

Elliott groaned, having to sit up from his bed. He had only managed to keep any suspicions at bay by inviting Renee into his, very messy, room for a movie night last night. He hadn't been very talkative the last two days, even though he thought he could pretend this was all in his head until all of his misery went away. With Renee though, at least he had a reason to not leave his room. 

So having to leave his room wasn't too fun. He made it to the door before his stomach did a small flip, making him wish that he had eaten something. He knew what dry heaving was like, and he'd rather not do that again. 

Ajay gave him a weary look as he made his way into the drop area. He could feel her gaze before he could even see her. It made him really glad he wasn't on a team with her. 

Speaking of teams.

"Survey team, huh?" Mirage let slip, looking between Crypto and Bloodhound. At least this game he had a chance of not being sniped off a roof. 

Crypto didn't respond. His eyes barely spared a glance at Mirage. Maybe they weren't on the best of terms, but they did work together a lot. For randomly generated teams, that stupid generator really liked to put them together. So they weren't on the worst of terms either. As long has Crypto had fair warning before being touched Mirage wouldn't find himself on the ground with his arm almost broken. 

Then there was Bloodhound. With the mask that was always on, even during their off days on the drop ship, it was hard to tell what the hunter was thinking. Other than the scarred tips of their fingers that poked through the fingerless gloves, or maybe they were just really worn and the stitching in them deteriorated, Elliott had never seen their skin. He had never really seen anything other than what they showed. And Bloodhound had shown to be a private person.

It's not that his eyes didn't follow Bloodhound. It was hard not to watch them sometimes. Their every move was so precise. Like they thought over every outcome before they took a chance. But they were somehow still so fast. In the blink of an eye they would be gone, off to hunt their next prey. Sometimes, Elliott thought, they must really be the hunter the gods have sent. 

"Let's win this!" Mirage tried to smile brightly at them. But the second the words left his lips they were falling.

"Prepare for battle." Bloodhound said shortly, with little warning that they were leaving the dropship. 

Elliott felt his stomach roll being tossed in the air. Normally he was fine, but gliding through the air made him even dizzier, if that were even possible. 

He hit the edge of a house, just outside of market with a this and waited a beat too long to get oriented again.

"Taking fire." Crypto yelled through the com. He hadn't landed far, the next house over with the mesh-like covering. 

Elliott groaned into his com by accident, before pushing the door open. He was lucky that nobody ran in while he was trying to right himself. 

As if his luck were any worse, the house only held a p2020 with some heavy ammo. It was looking to be his day. When was the last time it was his day?

"That was the last one." Crypto informed over the com. He sounded grumpy, but Elliott would be grumpy too if he had to take on a whole squad upon dropping. 

"I knew you were an asset to this team." Elliott called out playfully. He liked to tease Crypto because he made it so easy to do so. 

Elliott looked out the window, glancing around for enemies before slowly climbing out. Vaulting out windows had become a big no-no. He couldn't shake the near constant dizziness that had been plaguing him. Half of him thought maybe it would be a good idea to mention it to Lifeline, she was a medic after all, but the other louder half was self destructive. The louder half said that either this was his punishment for being stupid, or it would go away on its own.

And he really couldn't argue there. 

It was only after he slowly crawled his way out the window that he noticed Bloodhound across the way. At first he thought the hunter was tracking someone, watching them through the scope of their longbow. But their gun was not drawn. If anything, Elliott almost swore it was like they were watching him, waiting for a slip up. It wasn't like he could actually tell what they were watching with the mask firmly in place.

But that didn't mean he liked it one little bit.


	2. Falling to the ground

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I absolutely do not remember where I was going with this, so I'm posting what i have. Sorry it's kinda crappy.

Their eyes watched him stumble. They watched every move he made. Their mind replayed that moment three days ago. How everything went down. It was hard to stomach.

_ Bloodhound sat perched on the roof of the house. Caustic was still looting a deathbox and Ajay was using doc to patch the older man up. They had a rough time in bunker, Caustic had insisted they went there. He usually liked to drop there, so Bloodhound wasn't surprised. They were just glad that their whole team had made it out in mostly one piece.  _

_ Barely, that was. _

_ From the house atop the hill, and the 4 to 8 times scope equipped to their loyal longbow they could see that there was nobody in containment. Just some caged fliers making little to no noise.  _

_ But their instincts as a hunter told them it was too quiet.  _

_ With another quick look, they noticed the bins and door were already opened at Containment. Someone had already been there.  _

_ They almost called it out to their team when Ajay's voice interrupted the line.  _

_ "I think I see someone down there in the valley, on the roof of the house."  _

_ Bloodhound took no time scoping in, moving slightly to the side as they did. From the roof they had little cover if someone sniped them while they were following their prey.  _

_ She was right. It didn't take long to see him. It never did. Bloodhound trained their eyes to find him. To watch every move the trickster made. He was fierce. He was bubbly, he was very tricky, but he was also calm, and isolated. Bloodhound saw all of the things that he didn't want to show. _

_ But that's because Bloodhound had been watching him since he joined the games. How could they not? The moment they laid eyes on the man they thought they felt something. It was as if his mere presence was a sign from the Allfather.  _

_ So they watched every move. They knew the real smiles, though they were seldom, and the fake. The listened to the way his voice chimed in each and every conversation, words unsure and rushed. It made Bloodhound wonder who Elliott was. The person behind Mirage. They obviously weren't the same.  _

_ Their finger twitched, gently teasing the trigger. Oh yes, Bloodhound saw the women looting the deathbox. They saw how vulnerable the whole team was, but they could feel a nasty thought cross their mind as they readied themselves.  _

_ What kind of face would he make?  _

_ Bloodhound could have gone after anyone on the team. They were all so unaware. None of them would be prepared. But they wanted to be the one to get Elliott, they wanted to see the look on his face. They didn't necessarily take pleasure in hurting him, from what they saw he did enough to himself that he didn't need anyone else to do the job, but they loved to see new sides to the man. They wanted to see his everything.  _

_ "What face will you make for me, Elliott?" They asked and the shot rang out. It was piercing, like the feeling in their chest when they watched Mirage go down.  _

_ Still zoomed in, they saw everything. It was a knowing look that graced his features before his head slammed into the shingles and he slid down the side.  _

_ Bloodhound wasn't sure what would hurt more, the massive headache Elliott would have when he woke up, or the pain in their chest. _

_ Why was there pain? _

  * •●



Elliott could sum up how he felt about his life in about 2 words. Kinda crappy. Well, actually no, he couldn't say that. The moment he was living in right now was kinda crappy, but he still remembered good times in his life. The time he spent with his mother, learning how to make his own tech. The times his older brothers used to tease him were now fond memories too. 

But this moment, this moment was one of the bad ones. He tried to ignore the mess that was his stomach as he ducked behind a tree root. There was only one squad left, Crypto was next to him in lala-drone-mode-land completely oblivious to anyone that could be lurking around and Bloodhound had long since vanished.

Right now probably wasn't the best time to regret all of his life decisions, but he was going to do that anyway. His biggest regret was not telling Ajay that something was wrong. 

Asking for help was hard for him though. Everyone around him was just kinda ready for anything, or naturally talented, or something stupid like that. He was just there with that fake it till you make it attitude. 

"Come on Crypto, I could use you back here." Mirage mumbled knowing his com wasn't on. He could feel his grip on his havoc loosen as his palms became clammy. 

"I've spotted an enemy." Crypto said after a few seconds. Their body outline lit up in orange through the wall, showing where they were. It looked like Caustic. 

"Great." Elliott mumbled, his head swimming as he stood. "I get the feeling they will have ring."

"With your luck?" Crypto stood next to him, logging out of his drone. "I have no doubts. Where is Bloodhound?" 

"If I knew, I would have rushed the enemies instead of guarding you."

Crypto only hummed in response. Elliott could feel the man's dark eyes on him. Crypto may have been secretive, but he made his looking at Elliott obvious.

"What?" Elliott asked, mildly annoyed as they heard the overhead announcement call for the next round to begin. 

Crypto bit his lip. The look on his face was unsettling at best. "Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Elliott answered with a question so he didn't have to lie. He was terrible at lying anyway. He always stumbled over his words.

  * •●



Elliott woke up. The only problem was he didn't remember going to sleep. The last thing he remembered was getting shot down in the final two. He didn't even know if they won or not. He would find out soon because Crypto would either be pissed at him for making them lose or he would smirk at him because  _ 'see I could have done it without because I did do it without you.' _

"Where-" He groaned, not being able to finish his question. He knew this room way too well. The freaking infirmary. How did he always end up here? 

"Stay down." Their voice called to him. 

Bloth Hunder. 

What were they doing here? Why would they be watching him sleep? Why was he sleeping again?

"You've hurt your head." Bloth answered the unasked question. It was as if they heard his inner thoughts and provided answers to the things he was too afraid to ask. 

"Yeah?"

"Is it from the last game? Crypto and I didn't notice you getting hit when we won. You just went down."

Uh, so they did win. Great the gloating from Crypto wasn't something he was looking forward to. 

"It's been bothering me for a while."

"You should have told someone."

"Yeah." Elliott didn't have the energy to scowl. He didn't know how long he had been in the bed, but he was still tired. 

He felt his eyes droop. 

"I will watch over you." Elliott could have sworn he heard Bloodhound say. 

_ I always watch over you. Usually it's just through the lens of my sniper scope.  _


End file.
